Faculty MLE Retreat

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  Hanneli Ågotsdatter Psychotherapist, architect and meditation teacher - Denmark

  Hanneli Ågotsdatter

  Hanneli Ågotsdatter, M.A, psychotherapist, architect and meditation teacher. She is the founder of kontemplation.dk which offers MBSR-programs and group retreats where mindfulness, presence yoga, empathy and creativity are interwoven into an integrated practice.
  
  In her work, Hanneli has placed special emphasis on relational competence, teaching the practice of empathy and presence to professionals working with children and young people. She co-leads a one-year program for Danish school teachers, a project that sorts under The Danish Society for the Promotion of Life Wisdom in Children.
  
  Hanneli lives at Vaekstcenteret, a contemplative community in Denmark under the guidance of founder Jes Bertelsen. She divides her time between counseling, teaching, and long-term personal meditation retreats.

   

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  Martijn van Beek Associate Professor at Aarhus University - Denmark

  Martijn van Beek

  Martijn van Beek is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and affiliated with the Interacting Minds Centre, both at Aarhus University, Denmark.
  
  Having previously spent many years working and conducting research in Ladakh and elsewhere in the Himalayan region, his current research explores the meeting ground between contemplative traditions, especially Buddhism, consciousness research and modernity.
  
  One of the goals of his current research is to contribute to refining our understanding of the significance of the spread of mindfulness and related forms of modern contemplative practice for people and for society today. Together with colleagues at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris he is also engaged in research on the phenomenology of contemplative experience.
  
  Martijn teaches on contemplative life in context, in theory and in practice at Aarhus University; in the programme “Training Empathy” for professionals working with children and young adults offered by Børns Livskundskab, The Danish Society for the Promotion of Life Wisdom in Children; and at Vaekstcenter, the intentional community where he lives, and elsewhere.

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  Marieke van Vugt Assistant Professor at University Groningen - the Netherlands

  Marieke van Vugt

  Marieke van Vugt is an assistant professor at the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Engineering (ALICE) of the University of Groningen (Netherlands). The research in Dr. van Vugt's lab focuses on how, when and why we mind-wander, and what the fundamental cognitive operations are that underlie meditation and mindfulness.

  Most recently, she started to investigate how analytical meditation practiced by Tibetan monks and nuns affects cognition and emotion. She addresses these questions using a combination of computational modeling, neuroscience, and experimental psychology tools. She very much enjoys projects were science, art (particularly classical ballet), and contemplation meet. https://mindbrainmindfulness.wordpress.com/

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  Stefano Poletti Collaborator of INSERM CRNL-DYCOG Lyon - France

  Stefano Poletti

  Stefano Poletti is a clinical psychologist and a constructivist psychotherapy trainee. After studying Neuropsychology and cognitive sciences he has been involved in neurophenomelogical approaches to evaluate mindfulness-based clinical interventions (MBIs) and experimental programs. He particularly focused on qualitative methodologies such as microphenomenology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.

  His collaboration with Antoine Lutz's team explores how contemplative states affect metaphysical worldviews, beliefs, ethics, and pain. Other collaborations relate to MBIs with people affected by psychological or medical chronic conditions, burnout prevention and quality of life improvement in health professionals, elders and young students. His work has been ethically inspired by various Buddhist teachers and communities, besides his own meditation practice, which became regular on 2009.